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Plan B or C

Bill Dement For the Ruidoso News

Posted:
01/24/2013 03:53:57 PM MST

Lately, I've spoken to several disgruntled parents with both high school and college-age children. I spoke to a friend in New York who has a high school baseball player for a son. The dad was furious at the kid's coach because he got a 1080 on the SAT, which is about a 15 on the ACT. He was mad the coach didn't tell him that the kid's test scores were not cutting it for scholarships; in fact they were so low getting into anything other then a community college would be tough.

The truth is it isn't the coach's fault. It is hard enough training a team to be competitive. You can play the blame game all you want and blame coaches, teachers and principals but by the time the tests scores roll in, in many instances it's too late. Sure Johnny can take it over but real low scores are a real feat to bring up. Unless he has test anxiety he just isn't prepared for college. There are gaps in his learning. For parents, don't rely on school grades. Across the country grades are notoriously inflated. Youths with A and B averages are routinely getting floored when it comes to standardized tests. Better yet gauge your kid's progress by taking a variety of tests. The SSAT and Compass tests can be practiced at a local Sylvan Learning Center. There are many home study books to get the practice your kids need. Sophomores can bone up on the SAT by taking the PSAT. In fact, if they score well enough they qualify for the national merit scholarship.

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More importantly, you have an idea on how your teen will do on the real SAT.

In addition, if you take an active interest in Johnny's schooling and test results, you may realize that the way he practices ball, missing practices because he thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread transfers over to standardized test scores. At some point you may have to help him realize he's not college material, or for that matter a legitimate potential college or pro-athlete pick.

Plan B may be to say those dreaded words in America-"learn a trade." With many recent college graduates floundering on the bread line with no hope of a decent job having pursued majors in African history, Communications, Police Science, and other non- math and science majors, it may be time for them to consider civil service jobs.

For me it was easy. I wanted to pitch for the New York Mets. At 13, after throwing several 40 mph heaters to my dad, he uncharacteristically placed his arm around my shoulder.

"You're not going to make it," my father said

At 16, I was taking civil service exams for cop and firefighter and you know the rest.

Last week took the cake. I was alone at an Italian restaurant sitting at the bar, eating soup and drinking a glass of wine. A Mexican-American man sat down and he found it curious that a guy as fat as me was only eating soup instead of pizza. I sighed and he kept jabbing me.

He went on to tell me he has a college-age son at some college near Lubbock who has a wicked fastball. He mentioned it was a Division III school.

I asked him, "How fast does he throw?"

"Eighty-eight to eighty-nine" he replied.

I told him that wasn't fast. He added:

"He's a lefty with a great curve."

I asked him how old he was.

"Twenty-three."

He went on to tell me the phenom has not gone to school in two years. He blamed the coach because when he was a freshman his son was hanging out with seniors on the team drinking. He was too hung-over to go to school the next morning. He told me the coach promised to watch over him. The coach lied to him. I got out the violin. I went on to diagnosis his problem.

"He's a pot head and a chick magnet," I said.

"Just a toke or two and he uses protection with the girls. He's not like the seniors that have kids already."

I rolled my eyes and I then found out his son's Plan A is that he wants to go to the Major Leagues. There is no back up plan. I politely said it wasn't happening. Division III after missing two years of college made a pro career virtually impossible. I told him that his skills were eroding while other kids were working hard.

My advice to him was to have his son get back to school, get up his grades and I urged him to sign up for a variety of civil service exams. Police officer, firefighter, sanitation, corrections officer, any and all of these exams would be a start. I told him to look into big cities like Dallas, Houston, Albuquerque, and Denver where they hire civil service workers by the thousands. These jobs pay good benefits and provide something that is increasingly becoming foreign to most Americans - they provide a pension after 25 or 30 years of service.

I spoke to another friend from Philly. He was trying to get his son to become a cop. After passing the physical, the investigator called the dad and told him Little Johnny had sworn he had never received a criminal court summons. A beer drinking in public ticket popped from two years prior. Not long after numerous phone calls were made to friends within "da job," the ticket issue went away. After swearing up and down that there would be no further problems, another beer drinking ticket popped from six months prior. Crestfallen, the father pleaded and the boy was put on investigative review. He missed the police class that went in last June.

Last week the mini-hulk that works out four hours daily, eating 12 eggs, yolks and all with zero cholesterol-take that Lipitor, showed he has zero brains. He punched out a community college chum over a girl and got collared.

We spoke about Plan A before. That was the Mexican-American kid that wanted to go to the Major Leagues. Plan B was college or trade school. Plan C was the civil service route for cop and sanitation. We are up to Plan D for dummies. My friend's Neanderthal son fits into this package. I say throw the kid out of the house.

Across America there are thousands of college-age teens just like muscle boy going to community college by day pursuing, according to Salary.com, useless degrees where job prospects are dim. Psychology, Sociology, Fine Arts, History, Nutrition, Pre-Law, Journalism, English, Literature, and Photography make the list. At night they are working at Walgreens. In their off time they are majoring in pharmacy, marijuana, Ecstasy, and sadly even in small towns like ours, heroin use is taking off.

As parents we turn a blind eye. Well, we reason Johnny is growing up. He's working and going to school and he's eating us out of house and home. He's trying to find himself. Puking on himself and mom after a beer binge goes with the territory. "F's" were his attempt to drop a class without the hassle of actually going to the college registrar and dropping the class. Negative integer GPA's are the result.

Who is to blame? The list is too long but the buck stops with us parents. Take an active interest in your kid's academics early on. The tests I mentioned are made to see if he or she is on track for college.

Be realistic with your children about their athletic potential. Not everyone is playing D 1 ball or going pro. Have your Plan Bs and Cs and let your kids know that college is not for everyone. Trades such as welders, electricians, plumbers, etc. can provide a good living. Plan B or C also could be the military. The military structure will give youths the needed discipline and hopefully they can avoid the pitfalls I mentioned.

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